Chapter 64 – Bloody Diary (2)
Oh Han-seong explained the man in the photo.
“He is Min Young-man, Director at the National Intelligence Service, and the head of the Economic Security Bureau, which was newly established in the NIS two years ago. Above him is Deputy Director Ban Sang-won. It seems likely this has to do with Baesung Trading.”
“Ban Sang-won?”
Unlike Min Young-man, it was a name Kwak Chi-young knew all too well.
At the same time, Kwak’s brow furrowed deeply.
“So he’s been quiet lately, and now this…”
“My guess is that Deputy Director Ban Sang-won was after Chairman Bae Young-chul’s ledger.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t he have just dispatched agents?”
“Perhaps it was to completely erase any trace of involvement if something went wrong.”
Ban Sang-won was a meticulous and ruthless man. He joined the NIS in his mid-twenties and by his mid-forties had risen to Deputy Director.
He was notorious for using any means necessary to achieve his plans, which is why Kwak Chi-young considered him a highly dangerous individual.
“Right, trash like him would only use trash.”
“What should we do about Ahn Deok-chil?”
“Can you quietly extract him?”
“The police and the NIS are guarding the area, so it seems difficult.”
“Then bring him out even if it gets noisy. We’ll need to fit the matching puzzle pieces first.”
He was referring to Ahn Deok-chil and Kim Sang-hoon.
Just then, Oh Han-seong’s phone rang.
“A call from Incheon Airport.”
“I’ll check as well.”
They put it on speakerphone, and the team leader responsible for bringing in Kim Sang-hoon reported from the other end.
[Manager Oh, we have a problem.]
“What happened?”
[There were other people targeting Kim Sang-hoon.]
“So what about Kim Sang-hoon?”
Securing him was more important than the state of his pursuers.
[We secured him without issue. Where should we take him?]
“Take him toward Siheung.”
Once the call ended, Oh Han-seong made another call to arrange Ahn Deok-chil’s extraction from the hospital.
Watching this, Kwak Chi-young muttered quietly.
“Seems the NIS is after Kim Sang-hoon too.”
Even without all the puzzle pieces, the overall picture was becoming clearer.
“It does seem Ahn Deok-chil infiltrated Baesung Trading because of the ledger.”
“Dig deeper into this so-called Economic Security Bureau.”
Oh Han-seong bowed his head at the order.
…
At the same time, inside the 4th Deputy Director’s Office at the NIS.
There, Min Young-man, the Director of the Economic Security Bureau, quietly ended a phone call with a grave expression.
Sitting across from him, 4th Deputy Director Ban Sang-won could guess the content.
“So, it failed?”
A short but heavy response.
Min lowered his head.
“…I’m sorry. Some unknown people intervened and took Kim Sang-hoon away.”
“Any idea who they were?”
“They say the hit-and-run tactics were professional.”
Ban Sang-won exhaled, eyes cold as he looked off into the distance.
“At such a critical time, someone acted on their own only to get snatched away by others… any idea who might be behind it?”
“Judging from the situation, I’d think it’s likely on Bae Sung-hwan’s or Bae Min-sook’s side. But it seems unlikely they’d be able to recruit professionals capable of handling our men.”
“If they want to reclaim faltering Baesung Trading, then yes, it’s possible. Anyone else?”
After a pause, Min Young-man cautiously spoke.
“Bae Sung-wook, who rose to Chairman, or TSF Investment backing him. Given the current situation, with the Baesung Trading Gate scandal, they’d take the biggest blow financially.”
The reasoning was sound.
Ban Sang-won was already familiar with TSF Investment, known for acquiring Korean companies and selling them off in pieces.
“The current branch head there is Kwak Chi-young, right?”
“That’s correct.”
There was also a bitter history between them. Just saying the name brought distaste.
“I thought they’d gone quiet… maybe they’ve started moving again.”
“If it really is TSF, shouldn’t we start a full investigation?”
Ban lit a cigarette.
“How much do you really know about TSF? Just tell me what you know.”
After a moment of hesitation, Min began to explain.
“Officially, it grew from a private equity fund, but in reality it started by laundering mafia money from the U.S. and Europe. In Korea, a branch was established in the early 2010s. They’ve cleaned up their image, but they’re notorious for corporate dismantling.”
“Quite accurate. And do you know what Kwak Chi-young originally was?”
“I’ve heard he was a lobbyist in the Middle East.”
Ban let out a dry laugh with a cloud of smoke.
“Correct. A lobbyist. More precisely, a lobbyist who dealt in human lives. A very ruthless man, full of greed. He’ll trample anyone if it benefits him.”
“You’re saying this situation is quite sensitive and dangerous.”
Ban nodded at Min’s reply.
“TSF has spread its roots just like Baesung Trading’s scandal. That’s why the higher-ups hesitate to touch it.”
“But Chairman Bae Young-chul’s ledger is also important. This whole thing was to clean that up.”
“It’s a headache, but nothing we can do. It’s not like our feet are on fire right now.”
“Do you mean to leave it alone?”
The one who had quietly ordered retrieval of Bae Young-chul’s ledger was the NIS Director himself.
That alone suggested there had been dealings or connections between the late Chairman Bae and the current NIS Director.
“What else can we do now? Names aren’t out yet, but eventually they will be.”
“…Understood. So, should we just watch TSF?”
“It’s not confirmed. For now, stand down.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Then Min’s phone rang. It was from the hospital.
“What?! That bastard Ahn Deok-chil disappeared?”
* * *
That night, Shin-woo secretly slipped out of his house and headed to Mansoo Electric.
“Damn bastards are going at it head-to-head.”
He was watching footage showing TSF’s 666th Unit clashing with another group near Incheon Airport over Kim Sang-hoon.
“That’s not all.”
Jang Man-soo, seated at the computer, switched the screen to another feed.
It was CCTV footage of a hospital corridor. In it, a man was shown entering a patient’s room.
“Do you know him?”
“That’s Min Young-man, Director of the Economic Security Bureau at the NIS.”
“Ban Sang-won’s right-hand man?”
Even Shin-woo recognized the name as soon as he heard it.
He remembered it well because Jang Man-soo had often gnashed his teeth at that person.
“That’s right. That bastard’s Economic Security Bureau used my LEUCO to collect corporate information.”
“And behind him is Ban Sang-won?”
“In the end, it’s all Ban Sang-won’s plan.”
“In the original future, wasn’t it Kim Sang-hoon who voluntarily exposed everything?”
Of those who knew Korea’s future, it was Jang Man-soo—who had stayed in the country—who knew the most, not Shin-woo who had been abroad.
“That’s how it happened.”
“But the list was missing all the important names, right?”
“Exactly.”
“So the NIS took the ledger and used it to wipe out their enemies.”
In the past, Ban Sang-won had obtained both Jang Man-soo and the ledger, and used them to carry out his execution list.
“That guy’s out of his mind. Even as a 4th Deputy Director, he was crazy enough to treat the President as beneath him.”
“Because you handed him something enormous.”
“…I have no excuse for that.”
But the situation now was different. Both Jang Man-soo and the ledger were in the hands of Triad Eye, not Ban Sang-won.
“Ah, Lillian must be here.”
Just then, Jang Man-soo, watching the external CCTV, released the lock he had set on the secret passage.
But the person who came in was a middle-aged man with black hair in a business suit.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Phew—!”
With a sigh, the man peeled off a wig and a face mask, then swept back shoulder-length golden hair.
It was Lillian, who had been disguised as a man.
“Everything is going as expected.”
“No other issues?”
“Not really.”
Perhaps from the heat, Lillian even took off the suit, leaving only a rash guard and leggings underneath.
Jang Man-soo’s face twisted in disgust.
“Hey! Why are you stripping here? You’re burning my eyes!”
“What, my perfect body is too much for you?”
“Perfect? More like defective.”
“Wanna die?”
Shin-woo sighed at the unchanged bickering between the two.
“Cut it out already.”
“Tch!”
“Click—!”
“Lillian, good work. It couldn’t have been easy to disguise yourself properly with such limited equipment.”
“Well, for me it was a piece of cake.”
Though Lillian specialized in explosives within Triad Eye, her secondary specialty was disguise.
Given enough time and resources, she could impersonate anyone—male or female, young or old—so long as the body frame wasn’t too far off.
“Nothing missing?”
“I did wish I had a voice changer. But someone never makes one for me.”
Jang Man-soo glared.
“I need the parts to make it!”
“Then just buy it on the black market.”
“This isn’t overseas! In Korea, if you buy that kind of stuff carelessly, you’ll be arrested as an industrial spy!”
“Then what about my C4 Tool? Without it, I feel totally unsafe!”
“Your dream is to be a terrorist, isn’t it?”
As their fight started up again, Shin-woo rubbed his temples.
“If only Wei were here.”
Because even in the past, whenever Jang Man-soo and Lillian fought like this, it wasn’t Shin-woo but Wen Wei who always mediated.
“Enough, both of you. Things are only going to get busier. Man-soo, focus on working with MH Tech to secure radar technology as quickly as possible. Lillian, use the investment data Man-soo provides to handle operations.”
At that, Lillian tilted her head.
“And you, Captain?”
“Me?”
“You’re not doing anything?”
“I’m busy too. I’ve got to make some bastards, who are already boiling inside, finally explode.”
The targets were becoming clearer. If anything, he intended to accelerate, not slow down.
“You mean the MH Group executives?”
“Yeah. We’ve already exposed the executive candidates, so they’ll have to make their move soon.”
“And TSF? Just leaving them alone?”
“They’ll be tied up with Baesung Trading for now. By now, they’ll have learned about the ledger too. They’ll be agonizing over whether to keep that card or throw it away.”
If TSF Investment abandoned Baesung Trading at this point, the losses would amount to billions.
It would hit their cash flow hard, meaning the first phase of Shin-woo’s plan was a success.
At the same time, it cut off one of the Brilliant Group’s future funding sources that TSF Investment had been preparing.
“Good.”
Lillian nodded, and then Jang Man-soo, who had been quiet for a while, spoke up.
“What about your grandfather and the issues with MH Electronics and MH Food?”
He was referring to the crises Jang Man-soo had mentioned early in Shin-woo’s regression, which had shaken the MH Group’s foundations.
Chairman Myung Joong-hwan had collapsed from acute myocardial infarction, and afterward the subsidiaries suffered from various issues, sending their stock prices tumbling.
That event had allowed MH Group to fall into the clutches of TSF Investment, much like Baesung Trading now.
“You said his health check-up records were being manipulated, right?”
“Yeah. Looks like the attending doctor’s playing games with someone—and that someone is obviously TSF.”
“Then let’s take out the culprits first.”
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Jang Man-soo let out a startled cry and stopped mid-sentence.
“What? Did you forget something?”
“Bathroom. That yogurt earlier… digested too well.”
With that, Jang Man-soo sprinted off to the bathroom.
In the meantime, Shin-woo exchanged glances with Lillian and began searching for the still-hidden wardrobe.
—
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